With Us (The Amato, #1)

by Layla Frost

[Eve1972]

This is Theo Amato and Dahlia Kincaid's story. Dahlia is working two jobs just to make ends meet. After growing up in foster care she is used to being alone and looking out for herself. Until one day when a gorgeous stranger comes into her café and sparks fly.

Theo Amato is gorgeous commanding and rich, and when he sets his eyes on the lovely Dahlia his obsession knows no bounds. But Theo is keeping secrets that when exposed could very well send Dahlia running from him forever.

I enjoyed this one for the most part. The writing was great and the plot kept me interested (mostly). Theo was a smoking hot and unwavering hero and Dahlia was a likable heroine. There was also a good array of interesting side characters that added a nice dimension to the overall storyline. I'm hoping we will get some more books featuring them. Some twists and turns and some good action (especially in the last 25% of the book) added to its overall appeal.



That said, there were a couple of things that brought my rating down a star. The first was Dahlia's dreams. They really threw off the pacing of the story in my opinion. Not to mention the transition into them was confusing. Sometimes it would take me several pages before I realized this was yet another of her (IMO) pointless dreams. I understand the author was trying to show that Dahlia was working things out through her dreams, but for me, all they did was take me out of the rhythm of the story and honestly I started to skim over them.

I also thought this dragged a bit especially during the middle of the book. Especially with repetitive dialogue from several characters all saying the same thing (just in different ways) to Dahlia. I didn't really need for five different characters to say "We can't say anything. Theo will tell you" over and over again. Lastly, I HATED the direction the author choose to go with the baddie. HATED IT...It's going to take me awhile to get over that one.

Those issues aside, I really did enjoy this one and look forward to more books being released in this series. Two thumbs up from yours truly.